OUR VIEW: A chilling brush with terrorism

“All in all, this has been a tough week.” President Barack Obama, following the capture of 19-year-old Dzho...

The Herald News, Fall River, MA

Writer

Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:18 PM

Posted Apr. 20, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Apr 20, 2013 at 8:18 PM

DARTMOUTH

» Social News

“All in all, this has been a tough week.”

President Barack Obama, following the capture of 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,

one of two accused Boston Marathon bombers

Terror pounced close to home Friday, as the horror that has gripped Boston since Monday ambushed southeastern Massachusetts.

The day began for many University of Massachusetts Dartmouth students, faculty and staff with the eerie revelation that the teenaged marathon bombing suspect known as “Suspect 2” or the “white cap suspect” was one of their own, a student enrolled at UMass Dartmouth.

Accompanying that revelation came a warning that the campus was evacuating, thrusting turmoil into the bewildering brew served up before breakfast.

As they departed their temporary homes, their safe havens, UMD students shared their feelings about one of their peers and the astonishing turn of events.

“All my friends were like, ‘I played soccer against him,’ ”said Gabriel DeSouza, a junior from Cape Cod who serves as an intern at Government Center in Fall River, and who said he recognized Tsarnaev from the widely publicized photos. “I’ve probably seen this kid 100 times,” DeSouza said.

James Tice, Josh Nichols and Ryan Smolinski said they met Tsarnaev earlier in the year when he rushed their fraternity. “He was normal, seemed like a decent kid,” Nichols said.

Page 2 of 2 - “He was a really quiet kid,” Tice said. “It’s scary to think we were that close to evil.”

Indeed, it’s the proximity to such brutal crimes and one of those accused of perpetrating them that is so disconcerting. Fresh-faced Dzhokhar Tsarnaev walked among us, attended class beside us, broke bread at our table.

It’s said you can never really know another person. Nowhere is that better evidenced than at UMD, Tsarnaev’s actions both before and after the bombing apparently belying the iniquity of his soul.

It’s incongruous to think of a hopeful, young college student creating the swath of devastation that Tsarnaev and his brother are accused of, but it’s more chilling still to consider the stealth he was able to construct around his darkness.

To echo our president’s sentiments, it’s been a tough week, made more difficult by the realization that danger is closer to home than any of us imagined.